Summary:
Zip code 29501 in Florence, SC is home to three public middle schools serving grades 6-8 within the Florence 01 school district, which holds a 3-star rating and ranks 29th out of 75 districts statewide.
John W. Moore Middle is the clear academic leader in this area, ranking 136th out of 335 schools (59th percentile, 3 stars) with the largest enrollment at 1,056 students. It outperforms its peers significantly, posting 57.7% proficiency in English Language Arts (ELA) and 42.7% in math, compared to Williams Middle (44.0% ELA, 32.9% math) and Henry L. Sneed Middle (48.7% ELA, 32.4% math). The gap is especially wide in 8th grade math, where Moore's 51.1% proficiency rate exceeds Williams' 30.8% by more than 20 points. Notably, all three schools achieve exceptional results on the Algebra 1 end-of-course exam, with proficiency rates of 100%, 100%, and 94.87% respectively—far above the state average of 73.95%.
Chronic absenteeism is a concern at two schools: Williams (29.5%) and Henry L. Sneed (28.0%) both exceed the state average of 22.3%, while Moore matches it exactly. Interestingly, Henry L. Sneed spends the most per student ($14,430) yet achieves the lowest math scores, while Moore spends the least ($12,994) and gets the best results—suggesting factors like school culture and instructional quality matter more than funding alone. Year-over-year trends show Moore improving in 6th grade ELA and science, while Williams saw a troubling drop in 8th grade ELA from 42.3% to 37%. Despite being in the same district, there is a 95-rank spread between the top and bottom schools, indicating that individual school leadership and practices drive performance differences more than district-wide policies.
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